schlock

She purchased a schlock pair of heels because they matched her dress perfectly but the heel broke the first day she wore them.

adjective

Schlock means cheap or trashy.

An example of something schlock is a very revealing shirt made out of low quality, see-through fabric.

noun

The definition of a schlock is something that is cheap or of very low quality.

An example of shlock is a room full of very poorly made furniture.

schlock

anything cheap or inferior; trash

Origin of schlock

from uncertain or unknown; perhaps German schlacke, dregs, slag

cheap; inferior

also schlock′y

adjective

schlock′i·er, schlock′i·est

schlock

also shlockSlang

noun

Something, such as merchandise or literature, that is inferior or poorly made.

adjective

Of inferior quality; cheap or shoddy.

Origin of schlock

Possibly from Yiddish shlakapoplexy, stroke, wretch, evil, nuisancefrom Middle High German slag, slakstrokefromslahento strikefrom Old High German slahan

Related Forms:

schlock′yshlock′y

adjective

Our Living Language A number of English words borrowed from Yiddish (a variety of German with an admixture of Hebrew and Slavic elements) are recognizably of foreign extraction because they begin with sound combinations (shl-, shm-, shn-) not found at the beginnings of native English words. Schlock is such a word; it is descended from a Middle High German word for a hit or blow, and thus came to refer to damaged merchandise, and then to merchandise of poor quality. Other words beginning with this and similar sound combinations are Yiddish also: schlep, schmooze, schmuck, and schnoz. These words may not be equally common in all regions of the United States; they are most frequently heard in areas with sizable Jewish populations that either speak Yiddish or are descended from Yiddish speakers, such as New York City. Of course, not all Yiddish words borrowed into English begin with the sound (sh); one need only think of bagel, lox, blintz, nosh, meshuga, and kibitz to get a feeling for the variety of words that Yiddish-speaking Jews brought with them to America.